Helen_Aitchison

Helen Aitchison

Helen Aitchison

British tennis player

Frances Helen Aitchison (6 December 1881 – 26 May 1947) was a Sunderland-born tennis player who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.[1]

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In 1912 she won the silver medal with her partner Herbert Barrett in the indoor mixed doubles competition. She also participated in the indoor singles event but was eliminated in the quarter-finals.[2]

Background

Aitchison was born in Sunderland in 1881, the eldest daughter of shipbuilder James Aitchison and his wife Mary, of Grange Terrace, later The Cedars. She competed in the County Championships of 1907 with three of her sisters, Alice, Kathleen and Sibyl, helping Durham to defeat Middlesex 5–4.

Aitchison entered the Wimbledon Championships for the first time in 1909, at the age of 27, winning the unofficial Ladies Doubles title with partner Agnes Tuckey. She also competed in 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914, reaching three semi-finals and two quarter-finals in the Ladies Singles. In 1913 she won the singles title at World Covered Court Championship in Stockholm, defeating Kate Gillou in the final in straight sets. Her success at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912 made her the first person from Sunderland to become an Olympic medalist.[3]

At Epsom in 1914 she married John Leisk.[4]

References

  1. [1]
    "Helen Aitchison Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  2. [2]
    "Helen Aitchison". Olympedia. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  3. [3]
    Book: Once Upon A Time in Sunderland, by Philip Curtis and Alan Brett. Published by Black Cat Publications, 2009. Page 20.
  4. [4]
    General Register Office index of marriages in July, August, September 1914 Names: Frances H. Aitchison = John L. Leisk District: Epsom Volume: 2A Page: 66.
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